One of the most important roles of a risk professional is to be on the front foot with information. The expectations of the organisation, and most likely your CEO, is that as the Risk Executive you have an ear to the ground and an eye on the horizon. So, how are we confronting the challenge?

We want to help in our way, so here are the top 5 risks for the retail industry and some thoughts on potential controls. Personally, as a consumer, if the retail industry did not have these as their top 5 then they were not doing risk management. But, that is just my opinion. Back to the risks themselves.

Guest author Eric White, who leads the retail strategy practice at Wren, providers of physical security solutions used by some of the world’s most innovative and respected retailers, talks about how businesses of every kind face risks. But for many, risks are thought of as the catastrophic-type events that - as completely devastating as they would be - don’t necessarily represent the most pressing threats to the day-to-day business. The face of risk is changing. It’s not just about the traditional, obvious risk events like earthquakes, tornadoes, or active shooters. Increasingly risks are those things that can slowly eat away at your business and profitability.